The sun rises on Juan Ramos Cuarenta and his wife, Josefina Garcia Lozano as they check the quality of this late October morning's new harvest of marigolds that have a commitment to meet with the Day of the Dead in Mexico.
If I understand the history correctly, Mexico and marigolds have shared the same heartbeat long before the Spanish arrival in 1519, which puts the relationship between the two at somewhere around 503 + years and counting. Their history is transcendent; their relationship is intimate; their life together is complicated; and death, as it has been and should be, is both the end and the beginning. The essayist Octavio Paz said, "The Mexican chases after death, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, and sleeps with it. He thinks of it as his favorite plaything and most lasting love."
As the story goes, the marigold flower symbolizes the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico, which happened in San Miguel this year on November 1st and 2nd. Legend has it that marigolds light the path for dead relatives to find their way back to visit their living loved ones for one moment every year. Marigolds frame the scene.
As part of the tradition, we, the living, honor these visits from our dead relatives with very personal homemade memorial altars and pathways decorated with thousands of marigolds with their orange, yellow, and gold colors mixed directly from the sun's rays. The Pre-Hispanics called them cempasúchil - the flowers are the light in the darkness surrounding our dead relatives, and they show them how to get back to us for one night a year.
As a side note - the Day of the Dead has nothing to do with face painting, fashion shows, parties, James Bond-funded parades in Mexico City, and $15 US Margaritas. I know that stuff is all in good fun, but Day of the Dead it ain't. A person can check with the local tourist bureaus and websites for more information on this "real Mexican experience." Those guys know how the money moves; that's all that matters for some people.
But, for real Mexicans, the Day Of The Dead is nothing without the marigold. In a small field south of San Miguel de Allende, the marigold is nothing without Juan Ramos Cuarenta (translated as Forty Bouquet) and his wife Josefina Garcia Loazano. Every year, they grow and harvest thousands of Marigolds for Day of the Dead altars, pathways, and celebrations.
I remember a great American orator and writer named Paul Harvey. Perhaps you do as well. Mr Harvey wrote an essay. In 2013 it was used in a famous US TV commercial for Dodge Trucks. It was called "So God Made A Farmer". Mr Harvey started his TV narration by saying, "On the 8th day, God looked down on this planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer." Juan and Josefina are that kind of people. They prefer to call themselves agricultores, because they grow other stuff as well, but God knows a farmer when she makes one; she didn't make a mistake.
Juan and Josefina work all day cutting individual marigolds, forming them into large bouquets, and filling trucks and cars with flowers bound for home altars and celebrations in surrounding cities.
They also grow sorgo, corn, beans, and wheat on this same land, but they plant the Marigold seeds in early August. Farming has always been a balance between what is hoped for, what is expected, and what is, but in the case of the marigolds, the harvest has to be timed for the last days of the week preceding Nov 1, the first day of Day of the Dead. My production coordinator/translator, Margo Lwna, and I spent parts of three days before Nov 1 as guests of Juan and his family as they harvested the flowers. It had rained too much this year, so the crop wasn't as good as they had hoped, but it's what they got, so it's what they worked with. It was an honor to watch them in their labor. As you scan this essay, I hope you get a sense of their dedication to the purpose of their work.
I don't know about you, but doing anything bent over at this age is more conceptual than reality-based. For me, there are no guarantees about ever getting back up again :-). We watched Juan (56) and Josefina (54) bent over for a few hours of cutting and tying up flowers before I laughed and said, "So, be honest with me now, at the end of the day, how does your back feel?" He said, I've been doing it for so long now, I don't feel a thing. I'm doin ok." She said, "It's our feet that feel it the most. Long days on our feet like this take a toll. It always hurts. But there is great satisfaction in knowing the purpose of the marigolds and the joy they will bring to our customers and their families. The satisfaction relaxes us. It makes it easier to carry the load."
José Alfredo is their son. Before school, he joined his mom and dad working on the Marigold harvest. He's 12 years old. I asked him what he wanted to do after he finishes school. He said, "I want to grow flowers and work the fields like my mom and dad."
Juan and Josefina get about 40% of their income from clients who purchase a percentage of the harvest ahead of time, but the other 60% comes from families and individuals who stop by the side of the road to buy flowers. They load them into their cars and pickups and take the flowers home for family altars and displays or for presentations in the parks and businesses in nearby cities. While we were there, ordinary Mexican families stopped and bought bouquets or helped cut and load their own flowers.
At the peak of the harvest, Juan gets his extended family involved. In these images, they have all helped load an entire pickup truck full of marigolds to be delivered to the celebration in San Miguel de Allende.
I just love exploring Mexico by politely venturing into backyards instead of ringing the front doorbell. If you travel to Mexico, I would urge you to look behind the marketing plans and the travel blogs. Take some time to go in the opposite direction of the brochure maps and the salespeople. A smile, a wave, and an honest interest in the commonplace are the primary currency of the traveler on a true journey. Mexico is a wonderful, polite, and gentle country. Just like yourself, it has a great story to tell. In this story, the harvest in a field of marigolds is where it all began.
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